Mattiace Can't Finish His Masterpiece

JEFF JACOBS

Someone was going to shoot 65 in the final round of the 2003 Masters. Someone was going to rush back from five strokes to settle into the champion's green jacket inside Butler Cabin.

Someone was going to catch 54-hole leader Jeff Maggert, because, cruel truth be told, somebody always catches Jeff Maggert. Yet this is no ordinary golf tournament, and that someone could only be Tiger Woods.

Except it wasn't.

When Len Mattiace wiped the morning sleep from his eyes, he set one of those reach-for-the-stars numbers athletes often make when facing the impossible. Mattiace wanted to make six birdies and no bogeys.

That would give him a round of 66. Five strokes behind Maggert, he figured that would give him a chance.

``I exceeded it,'' said Mattiace, wiping away tears.

He exceeded 66 with the six birdies and an eagle. He didn't make a bogey for 17 holes. His final-round 65 was three better than anyone. Three shots better than Mike Weir, the man who would slip into the green jacket as the first Canadian to win a major. He was three better than Phil Mickelson. He was 10 better than Maggert, and, yes, 10 better than Tiger.

If he had won his first major title, if golf wasn't the most unforgiving sport ever inflicted on mankind, Mattiace would have been remembered in the roll call of three immortal golf shots.

On No. 8, he pitched in from 40 yards for a birdie that left him pumping his fist.

``Everybody who wins will tell you they need the good bounce,'' Mattiace said. ``I chalked it up as a lucky break and kept going.''

On No. 10, he sank a 60-foot putt from the front of the green. The moment was giddily reminiscent of Ben Crenshaw's Masters putt on 10. Crenshaw won that Sunday in 1984.

On 13, he hit a 4-wood from 220 yards, the stuff of legends. His ensuing 10-foot putt gave Mattiace the only eagle of the day -- and third of the week -- on the usually docile par-5.

``I hadn't gone for the green the three other days,'' Mattiace said. ``All week I practiced the 4-wood off a right-to-left lie. I hit a beautiful shot and the ball still was one yard from going in the creek. Crazy stuff.''

By that point, crazy stuff was entirely possible for Mattiace. Woods had started four strokes behind Maggert and, despite the disadvantage, who among us would have bet against him becoming the first to win three successive Masters?

``Then I made a major mental blunder,'' Woods said.

His gut told him to use an iron on the 350-yard, par-4 third. His caddie, Steve Williams, suggested a driver. Woods listened. Tiger is the greatest athlete in the world, but he's the greatest right-handed. After he blocked his tee shot into the trees, he had to make his second shot left-handed with an upside-down wedge. He never recovered from a double-bogey 6, tying his highest final round in a major.

Maggert, meanwhile, has taken a lead into the final round of a tournament 10 times. Nine times he has failed. It happened in the 1992 PGA Championship and the 1997 U.S. Open. The nickname Gaggert is a cruel one. It's a cruel game.

Maggert's collapse was not long and painful. It was spasmodic. In the sand 102 yards from the third hole, he mis-hit a sand wedge. The ball hit the lip of the bunker, bounced back and hit him in the chest. It didn't rip his heart out, but it did cost him two strokes and a triple bogey.

On the par-3 12th, he put the ball in the water twice and had an 8. Maggert is from Texas. Growing up, he idolized Ben Hogan. Surely, at that moment, Maggert felt like putting down his clubs and jumping off Hogan's Bridge.

``I just wish,'' Maggert said, ``I could play a couple of holes over.''

This was Mattiace's tournament. He had a two-shot lead entering the 18th. Mattiace said his hips went faster than his hands and the blade stayed open on the tee shot. He was in the pine straw and was blocked from the green. He pitched out 80 yards, setting up a 9-iron. He said he turned the club over a hair and the ball rolled to the back of the green.

``I had a 35-footer downhill and it looked like ice to me,'' he said.

He would make a bogey at 6:12 p.m. Weir would catch him at 7 under to force a playoff. Mattiace would insist the 41-minute wait didn't hurt him. He warmed up, he said. He felt fine. His drive on No. 10, the first playoff hole, was terrific. He was left with a slight downhill lie. He hooked a 6-iron left of the green, the ball stopping in the rough directly behind a pine tree. He had to go to the right and he knew if he didn't chip it hard enough it would roll back down the hill toward him. He chipped it too hard.

``The putt I had was one of the fastest putts at Augusta,'' Mattiace said.

His missed the par putt and the long bogey putt, too, and, well, there was no need to shoot for a double bogey. It was over.